international cooperation and the un's peacekeeping force. the efforts to [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013] host: good morning, and welcome " thisshington journal monday, september 16, 20 13. on syria, you when inspectors delivered their report on the country's chemical weapons and you and secretary-general ban ki-moon will brief the security council this morning. on wall street this morning, futures shot up ahead of the new weeks trading, expressing approval of larry summers' withdrawal yesterday as a candidate to head the federal reserve. yesterday, president obama on "abc this week" said his

policies brought stability to the economy five years after the financial crisis and progress is being me. we will stick to this economy this morning and get your economic situation five years after the collapse of lehman brothers and the subsequent market crash. what is the economy like for you? you can send us a tweet or post your comments on facebook and you can also e-mail us. we will begin with "financial times" this morning and their story. they say -- -

this is "the washington times" this morning. host: president obama was interviewed on george stephanopoulos' show this week and he was asked about the situation five years after the financial crisis. here is what he had to say. [video clip] thing -- let's think about what we were. the economy was on the verge of a great depression. in some respects, the economic data and the collapse of the economy was worse than what happened in the 1930s. in, stabilize the situation. we have now had 42 straight months of growth.

seven and a half million new jobs created. 500,000 jobs in manufacturing. jobs in an auto industry that had completely collapsed. the banking system the works. it is giving loans to companies who can't get credit. -- so, we have seen undoubtably progress across the board. the housing market has recovered. but what is also true is, we are not near where we need to be. and part of it has to do with a whole bunch of long-term trends in the economy. host: president obama on "abc's this week was quote saying his policies have provided stability. i am wondering for all of you, what is your economic situation like five years after the crisis? act to "the washington times" they write --

host: jumping ahead in this story -- host: that this morning about

the president's interview on abc this week. i am curious, what is the economy like for you? next to the story about the president interview in "the washington times" is one about how this meant tom price, republican of georgia who is leading an effort to defund and deal a the president affordable care act. "wiggle room on spending but not -- "wiggle room on " is whatbut not debt the story has to say.

host: lancaster, ohio, republican. you are up first. what do you think? you are on the air. caller: how are you today? host: i'm doing well. what do you think? caller: i tell you what i think. i am a republican. and i am on disability. you know, i get by. i get by ok on the amount of money i get a month. you know why? i quit smoking cigarettes. cigarettes will cost you about $300 a month. want to smoke half of their disability pay, that's their problem.

here are someer, thoughts. there will be no company investment as long as obama stifles the economy. our twitter conversation happening if you want to join us. victor, democratic caller. caller: good morning. have, a question and a statement. first, i will start with a statement. i have seen prices keep on increasing. food prices. saying nothing is increasing, it is hard to believe. gas is increasing. also our utilities as well as taxes. property taxes and everything else. i'm on disability as well. i am a disabled veteran.

it is very difficult to live being disabled, and what i am concerned about is the fact that -- they talk about the elderly but they don't talk about the disabled. host: all right, victor. jeffrey from texas. republican caller. what is the economy like where you live? caller: i think the economy has improved significantly. i have to give kudos to obama for a lot of things he has done. he was probably dealt the worst hand of any modern-day president. consultant in my area, and services have started to increase demand the last few years specifically. overall, he has done pretty well. --re are some things [inaudible] this is is the sermon.

if you are starving come a you got to eat some -- if you are starving, you got to eat some food it now we have to address it. i think his policies averted a catastrophe. that is my comment. host: you are calling on the republican line. republicans are saying any deal to continue funding the federal government passed a september 30 have to include a provision that would delay the president affordable care act for one year. .he fund -- defund it you think it is a smart move? do you like it? yes, i do. i have a daughter with multiple sclerosis. financially, i'm in the upper income bracket, i think there's some shared responsibility that we should have towards our fellow citizens.

, i have health insurance on her privately. her medicine is $1100 a month. while i can afford to pay it, there are many people who can't. the people who are looking -- come on. we have plenty of things we spend money on and i think if we are going to try something, let's have a better idea, which i have not seen anybody coming up with anything. let's give it a shot and quit suit -- quit shooting it in the foot before it kicked in. host: from "the washington times" this morning, house republican leadership have not decided how it will proceed. raising the specter of a shutdown the differences are not resolved in the next few would. here is what republican tom price of georgia had to say on

fox news sunday yesterday. [video clip] now and theetween deadline. what we need is the house to act in the senate to act. this is the dynamic -- that ifold neil cavuto it is the only way, you are there. are you still there? >> the president is talking about sending the government. the democrats in the house and senate are the individual talking about shutting the government. we want to fund the government and protect the american people from a destructive law and health care. i am a physician. the last thing the nation needs is this law that will destroy quality health care in this country. of thee the president teamsters association saying it will destroy the 40 hour workweek. the afl-cio saying it is not what was built. look i'm a you need to change it wholeay it or repeal the thing. evil across the political spectrum recognize that this law is not good for the american people -- people across the political spectrum recognize that this law is not good. host: house republican tom price

talking about republican efforts to delay the president affordable care act as part of a negotiating deal to keep the government running and funded past september 30, and then, of course, they also have to come to an agreement on raising the debt ceiling shortly after that. , in conversations as they return to washington this week. president obama today will be addressing the economy and the rose garden at around 11:40 -- eastern time. "the wall street journal" has this headline -- "home sale frenzy uses." higher prices and rising mortgage rates curb demand, blaming "seller agreed" as the called -- "seller greed" as the cause. "usa today" says "goodbye, easy money."

host: the front page of "usa today" on that. as we told you at the time, as many of you know, larry summers withdrew his name from consideration at federal reserve chairman. here is "the boston globe." opposition mounts over style and record. "boston globe" reporting that on their front page this morning .ourtesy of the newseum here are the remaining contenders for that post. potential candidates to succeed ben bernanke at the fed. janet yellen is the leading

candidate, front-runner. donald kohn, timothy geithner, is reportedly not interested. and roger ferguson. the names on the faces president obama is considering to replace ben bernanke at the home of the federal reserve. "the wall street journal" reports this. janet yellen who garnered substantial report from democrats in congress and among economists but the public lobbying on her behalf appears to have annoyed the president, say insiders, and may lead him to look elsewhere. it also says dark horse candidates and include stanley fischer, an american citizen who recently stepped down as governor of the bank of israel, and roger ferguson, another former fed vice chairman and now chief executive of the aggressor ff, a nonprofit pension company.

financial times" has the story about larry summers on the front page. the lead story -- "summers out of fed race." what do you think question mark national one, new hampshire. bill, what is it like up there? -- what do you think? nashua, new hampshire? caller: it will be nice appear, for a change. the economy is stagnant. which is not real surprising, considering we have not gotten -- we have not got much industry or anything to speak of. basically what i am looking at is, they are going to make our economy and a whole lot worse in about two weeks if they don't get over this idea of democrats saying we are going to make it look like it is your fault, republicans, and a bunch of republican sitting back and saying, we are going to shoot ourselves and everyone else in the head. we hired them to do a job.

we hired them to do one simple job. manage the business of our government. and they are even going to blow that by going bankrupt. host: bill in nashua, new hampshire. five years after the crisis, what is the economy like for you? we want to hear your story. what is your employment like? what is your pocketbook like? we will keep taking your phone calls for this morning's "washington journal," but let's give you some other news on syria and the middle east situation. "the wall street journal" frontpage has the story --

host: that on the front page of "the wall street journal" about the situation there. here is "the guardian" with this story about iran. setting the stage for a possible meeting between the two and -- two men at the u one next week which would be the first face- to-face encounter between the u.s. and iranian leaders in the 1979 revolution. host: so, that reported in "the

.uardian" today on iran and then on syria, secretary of state john kerry continued his travels. he is in paris this money. --m "the washington post" host: reuters reporting earlier this morning that france and britain and the united states in these meetings in paris today have agreed on setting firmer date to the deal that the u.s. and russia brokered on saturday.

this from cbs news -- if a person for the un's secretary- general council said sunday they that she received the former that formal instrument of instruction of the convention from syria on saturday and said syria's membership will enter into force on october 14, 2013. a member, they are not a member right now. -- remember, they are not a member right now. negotiations will now turn to ambassadors and they agreed to have a use of force trigger in the un's resolution but he will -- it does not have one, but he will seek one if syrian president bashar al-assad does not follow through. ermine ham, alabama. hi, gilbert. what is the economy like for you? caller: let me thank c-span. to me right now, the economy is sort of so, as old people say.

i have to bank college educated children who have graduated the last five or seven years and they have not found viable employment -- i have two college educated children. i find it baffling that there are people in washington that will not implement anything to try to rectify the problem we had years back about the crisis. i am really on edge. i have been keeping up on the starting with the "usa today" article and they had one it on "the wall street journal" frontpage about a young guy who could not find employment. i am very concerned about our young people not able to find employment. i think it is a slap on the face that we have the type of people in washington dc who are making policy and not implementing them to help young people. it is quite disheartening. frank, from albany, germany -- georgia, that would be. good morning. caller: my comments -- i come to

wallabout the greed of the street and all of the other resources in this the united states. pens is that the prices of food is going up, everything is going up. and our salaries are not moving anywhere. that all ofalarming these things go up, and we blame it on our president. host: what do you do for a living? i am retired. host: how do you know salaries have not gone up? host: how do i know? i have been on -- i have not living increase for years. host: for social security? caller: social security. a couple of years we

did not get an increase. -- not a said angel increase, but we got an increase but small. and it does not compare with what is happening in the country. you look at congress, and you talked about -- when they talk about health care, they have a very wonderful health care. they are not concerned about my health care. and my family. and for people. people. host: tony from santa rosa, california. hi, tony. good morning. you're on the air. i just wanted to tell you i think our economy is in real bad shape. i am 67 years old. and i am scared about this health care program that all the politicians are trying to put through. we have a lot of unemployed people in california. we are taxed so high, it is

unbelievable. in line with the rest of the country. but as far as all of this health care thing, we have a government passing laws that apply to the people and it does not apply to themselves. the constitution says there should be no laws passed that benefit congress that isn't equally the same for the american people. so, why do we even have the health care reform that all of the congressman that we have hired to do the job for us are benefiting themselves? host: all right, tony. ewer on twitter says this about the health-care law -- host: this also from twitter -- host: and another tweet --

host: on the domestic front this morning, here is "the denver post" with their front the flooding courtesy of the newseum . it said six people are presumed unaccounted3 are for. destruction, about 19,000 homes damaged or destroyed. the reality is of a long, slow recover whe -- recover resettling in for the victims. president obama declared a national emergency for denver and for three counties in that state. detroit free press" has this story on their cover. "anthrax vaccine makes a -- firms to double production in lansing, michigan ."

host: we are talking about the economy and what is your situation like five years after the financial crisis began. betty and fort worth, texas. democratic caller. host: good morning. i am calling about the economy. first, i would like to say that and i am ale democrat and i was born in the depression. and i know all about that, because i lived through it, and i want everybody to know that it aimed in five years.

it took world war ii in the 1940s before we came out of the depression. so, those who are criticizing president obama because he has not cured everything in five years, i don't think that's fair. host: ok, betty. bill says -- host: and referencing outsourcing in china as part of our economic situation. back to syria, and here is a story that was featured on .com, and we have the editor-in-chief recently. a story translated from arabic with the headline "syria's oil sector on verge of collapse."

host: that is a story on almon itor.com. "the washington post" front page has this -- then "the financial times" reporting this about the situation in syria, that the episode also highlighted weaknesses that could damage the 's value to allies and longer-term prospects for survival. without chemical weapons, syria

is less of a threat to israel and thus less of an asset to its military ally and financial nature and iran. although tehran publicly welcomed the agreement. it host: that from "financial times" this morning. and then "the washington times" reporting on its front page, "ability to seize all chemical weapons raises gop doubts," questioning the deal and whether we should trust russia. and john mccain and lindsey graham writing an opinion piece in "usa today" saying "we can't imagine a worse signal to iran."

host: so, those two senators writing in "usa today." "the new york times" frontpage is there is a brief respite for the president but no plan b. what to do if it falls through? peter baker reporting on that. writes anohn barasco "the wall street journal" about how the russians can't be saysed in syria and he there should be work being done. prepare for it to fall flat and have a more effective alternative ready. even in south jordan, utah, independent caller. what is the economy like? the economy here in utah

doesn't seem to be too bad, but for me, i am retired and i am on social security and it is not getting any better, the economy. there are principles that apply to increase the social, spiritual, and economic well- being in individuals, communities, and nations, and they were given to moses called the 10 commandments. this country has turned them into the 10 inconvenient truths. we talk about syria but no one is talking about the over 1500 u.s. citizens killed each day because of abortion. over 5072, we killed million of our potential citizens through abortion. host: all right, steven. we are talking about the economy and what it is like for you five years after the collapse of lehman brothers and the subsequent stock market crash in mid-september of 2008. mark in eureka, california.

what is it like? great. it's not but the biggest problem that i see is we need jobs. and we can pump a lot more money into infrastructure, electrical grid, new types of electricity. we could have full employment if we wanted to. if the republicans would just get out of the way. if the we employ people, those people are going to have money to spend, and they are also going to pay taxes. host: why are republicans in the way? what are they doing? noler: they won't pass highway bill, jobs bill, nothing. they filibuster anything. nothing comes to the floor in congress. to --ike, they're trying if president obama wants

something, they are against it. it doesn't matter what, on everything he has tried to do. host: here is an e-mail in cj -- from cj in boca raton on the rights and. in -- writes host: we are getting your thoughts on the economy after president obama told "abc this week" yesterday that his policies provided stability and that the country is making progress. this on the front page of "the financial times" below the fold. it says --

host: and then the associated press this morning has the economic story for you. the big story -- employment gap between rich and poor widens for widest on record yet. it says --.

nearly matching the rate by workers in the 1930s great recession. "l.a. times" has a story that many americans believe that they that they falle, in that category. "l.a. times" reporting that. pat from jackson, tennessee. independent caller. caller: good morning, greta. i am finding that we have a lot of blame going against the president concerning the the insurance bill that was passed. the employers i am seeing

are not giving it a chance to work. they want to start laying off people and reducing their working hours. that's not fair. first, they need to give it a chance. everybody is projecting how it is going to affect their profits. we need more employers interested in the american their hopeputting and trust in things working out. another thing, c-span did a segment on visiting hospitals and seeing how they think the insurance bill would affect them and how they are progressing and providing services to the american people. i wish they would do another one, because i noticed that it was a lot of upper-class ritzy type hospitals that you visited. wo hospitals in

jackson, and one is the jackson madison county hospital and they are like building an empire over that. -- over there.re i know they are servicing a lot of people. that will be a good topic for you to just go around and see how they are benefiting so far .nd implementing that insurance host: we appreciate the suggestion. we want to encourage all of our viewers to send us topics, suggestions for "the journal there go if you go to www.c- rnal you can put it there or you can tweet us with the # wj topics. gary tweets in this -- host: joe from germantown, maryland. democratic caller. what do you think?

caller: i guess after the downturn, i am still unemployed. a year ago -- i have a daughter in college now. a year ago, we had to send her away to live with family because we couldn't afford to support her anymore. i had to leave home from michigan, was laid off and cannot find work and i am now living in maryland working for minimum wage just to help support my family in michigan. and to help my daughter in college. able to do that for five years. host: where did you have to send your daughter? out of the country? or here. mexicoho she is in new -- caller: she is in new mexico. and in order to get work ahead to come to maryland to get a minimum wage job.

from germantown, maryland. democratic caller. yesterday marked the 50th ombing ofry of the b the 16th street bridge. the church commemorates bomb victims 50 years later. .e covered it live on c-span3 if you are interested and you missed it, go to www.c-span.org. some of the images from "the washington times" about the ceremony. a little bit more for you on syria to "the washington post." russia deal looked unlikely until a poolside chat between secretary of state john kerry and his counterparts in russia." in the end, the deal was written entirely by the u.s. side --

host: there's that story in "the washington post" and then there is this one from "the wall street journal." roars over the deal."

host: paul and levittown, pennsylvania democratic caller. what is it like for you and pennsylvania? caller: good morning. i work for a federal agency. been denied some needed funding because there half of washington that seems to be out to starve the government, so to speak. n injustice to the whole

country. it's an injustice to federal workers. an injustice to people who need work. there's a lot of work that needs to be done. it seems corporate profits are enormously high. there should be more corporate taxes paid to so that the government programs could provide employment to people who need it. that is my whole comment. thank you. host: coming up in a few minutes we are going to be taking a look at the congressional week ahead, what is on the legislative calendar for congress. and of course, these debates over syria, the continuing resolution to fund the government passed september 30, and debate on whether or not to raise the debt ceiling. economy to the congressional agenda, here is george monroe on twitter who says -- it's go if you want to send us a tweet, go to twitter.com @ cspanwj or you can go to

facebook.com/c-span and send us your thoughts, and you can also e-mail us, journal@www.c- span.org. "the financial times" weighs in on the deal between the u.s. and tin mustsaying "pu deliver siv's compliance -- assad's compliance."

that is "the financial times" editorial page weighing in on the situation in the deal between the u.s. and russia on area's chemical weapons. ohio, independent caller. good morning. caller: the economy is not doing good. everything went out. we do not get any raises the last four or five years. 2009, my wife, she worked for a small business company. [indiscernible] people --he american their money if they don't get any help? syria, this has nothing to do with the chemical weapons. saudis and

all over the middle east, all the chemicals have to go. host: here is a viewer that e- mailed us -- host: and then another e-mail from a viewer -- host: e-mailing of those comments. here is a recent nbc news/wall street journal poll that asked this question of americans. years, howst 3-5 much were you personally affected by the crises and washed the -- in wall street and the housing market?

what he four percent said a great deal, 20% said some, only a little gardner 23%, and 24% not at all impacted by the crises on wall street and the mortgage housing industries -- .4% said a great deal we will look at next the congress wants to do when it comes to the economy, as well as syria and other debates with " washington times" political , andr stephen dinan kaiser health news jenny gold will tell you all you need to know about the upcoming launch of the nationwide health care exchanges. we will be right back. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013] [captioning performed by national captioning institute]

>> tonight, our series on first ladies continues. >> helen taft with a woman of first, she was a woman of combination. and this to me symbolizes all of that. this is helen taft's inaugural gown. she mark this occasion, not only her entry into the white house but really then added it as a mark of first ladies on the united states when she became the first first lady to donate her inaugural gown to the smithsonian. she is the founding patron, in many ways, of the first lady collection and she established the -- the tradition that first ladies would donate them to collections. every first lady after helen taft who had an inaugural ball , donatedaugural gown it to the smithsonian institution. >> meet the wife of the 27th president william howard taft, live tonight on c-span and c- span3 and also c-span radio and

www.c-span.org. intervenors -- >> we were intervenors on the side of the federal communications commission. we were supporting the fcc's determination that there was a concern with these bottlenecks companies controlling who are the winners and losers on the thernet, and that they had right, but the legal authority and the authority under the first amendment and elsewhere in the communications act to protect consumers and to protect competition by prohibiting these gatekeepers from favoring certain content, services, and applications over others. >> our position has been to oppose the adoption of net neutrality rules on both policy and legal grounds. i think, as commissioner mcdowell said -- and this is a very important point just in terms of the policy issue, there was really no evidence, and the

commission itself really didn't make any findings that the internet providers actually had market power. and internet service providers block or slow content moving over the internet? the verizon fcc case tonight on "the communicators" at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span2. "washington journal" continues. host: we are back with the stephen dinan, political editor of "the washington times" with a look at the week ahead for congress. they return for their second week since the month-long recess, and what awaits them? guest: the immediate question is spending bills. the continuing resolutions or cr's as we in washington call it and the question of how congress will deal with the september 30 deadline by which -- the basic spending -- not the entitlements -- but basic bending like

education and health programs runs out. every year congress has to all theize or respend programs. right now there is a big debate, congress has not passed any of the 12 individual spending bills they have to pass each year. all sides agree they have to do a continuing resolution, which continues the current year funding in the fiscal year 2013 funding, and to his of your 2014. the big question is, what thers, what extra stuff republicans tie onto that? and this case, there are a lot of republicans pushing for tie ins to health care, essentially the issue of defunding obamacare. they want to see all the government funding except for obamacare and they believe they have a lot of legislative leverage here. they think the president doesn't want to see a government shutdown if they go ahead and give them a bill that funds everything the government did except for the health care law. they think they can force them to do that. the question is, who is willing

to blink first? this has been standard stuff when you go into both debt deal as pending bills, you the question of who is willing to blink first and say, no, the rusher is too much of the consequences are too bad. that is the big fight going on. the house was opposed to take the fight up last week. they realized they didn't have a deal -- republican leaders could not get the deal through the house so they went back to the drawing board and they hope to bring it up this week. the they already told their members -- the house was opposed to be off on location last week. work, not instrict washington working on the stuff you would think they would be working on. the leadership has already told their members we may have to cancel that if we don't get it done. they hiding?e tell viewers a little more about the deal that fell apart last week and then tom price "fox news sunday" talk about the initiative to keep the pressure on on these

negotiations, that they would like to delay the affordable care act. s was the crazyk' parliamentary move that would allow a couple of symbolic votes but would not have produced final action. it gets a little complicated. house republican leaders, every bill that comes through the house floor comes under special leave -- rules for how it is debated. different from the senate. republican leaders have, with essentially a way they would allow their members to vote for the spending bill and to vote obamacare.g both would be sent over to the senate. a little more complicated than this. both will be sent to the senate. senators would vote. they would have to vote on defunding obamacare but all sides expected them to defeat that, and then they would be able to go ahead and vote on the basic spending that would fund the entire government. thewhen they defeat obamacare funding, part of that, stripping it out, the government would go ahead and defund it

regularly and we would skip ahead to the next crisis. and avoid the government shutdown, a key thing. republican leaders to republican members saying, we could give you a deal where we would avoid the government shut down, we will not get blamed, and you get another vote to defund obamacare. republican rank-and-file says it is not good enough. .e need to see action here a couple of things going on. first, the october 1 deadline for the setup of the health and -- health exchanges with the law: sides with the deadline for getting the spending bill done. with the deadline for getting the spending bill done. intoig part of it going effect, we can't let it happen. both happening at the same time, we have the perfect leverage and we will the american people dislike this law a not that they are willing to blame democrats for the government shutdown rather than republicans this time. the polling suggests it is not necessarily the case yet but

that is their calculation, that they could get there and the next two weeks, and they are trying to stiffen republican spines. one thing on that, there is some sense, sort of from leaders but also a growing sense that maybe this fight should have been done or better done on the next crisis we face a couple weeks miter on the debt deal or li that we about to bump into the into the borrowing limit again. the government shutdown is tied sort of specifically to the cr, but that is what funds all the basic operations. if the government runs up against the borrowing limit, it is a different situation. the government can only spend the exact amount of money it is taking in. in the past couple of fights we had, it was a real problem because the government was borrowing $.40 on every dollar, so you could be talking but instantly eliminating 40% of government. now because the economy is doing a little bit better, and the tax increases at the beginning of the year and the spending

increases, the government financial picture is actually not in great shape but much better shape. the government is borrowing only about $.20 on every dollar. some republicans are saying that thinking, we are real -- willing to either take the funding of the health-care law if we went on a dead deal or the instant 20% cut in government and make the obama administration have to decide whether cuts are. they would get blamed for the cuts, republican thinking goes, just as the sequester it not seem as bad as far. republicans think they either win the cuts or they get to extract concessions. laid out, all that what are republicans hearing yesterday from the president in his interview with george stephanopoulos? guest: no deal. the president has been adamant that he doesn't want a deal on either of those things. this has been his position all along. the past on in negotiations. we should always be careful. right now we are just the negotiation stage.

staring at the deadline, there have been deals in the past. some have been big deals like the 2011 that deals that led to the sequester that reduce spending, which is one of the reasons why government finances are looking better. some have been more political face-saving deals such as the last time we had a debt limit fight, the beginning of this year. republicans allow the debt to float and basically said no specific debt limit. in exchange, they forced the senate to take a vote on a budget, with the full senate not done for three years. of face-saving symbolic votes he can get out of it. sometimes there are actually real substantive spending changes you can get out of it. we have seen a test of the president's leadership with syria this last week. some are saying that now it is house speaker john boehner's turned detective on his leadership in this issue -- to be tested on his leadership on this issue.

question, with syria fading into the background as an issue for congress. it is certainly a major issue for the president. it remains something he will have to deal with. it will remain something congress will keep watching and we'll talk a lot about. it will take up a lot of oxygen here in washington. votehere is no specific facing congress right now, with a lot of members of congress are relieved about on both sides. they are willing to let diplomacy take its course. read, use all the presidents approval rating stagnate and drop a little bit with -- first, use all the president's approval rating stagnate in trouble little bit and off -- also in his own base. congress and the gallup polling, the highest -- in the gallup polling the highest in the year, went from 13% or 14% to 19 of 20. host: related to the reluctance to approve military strike in syria?

guest: gallup said it happened to coincide. whether correlation, we don't know. of thes without for most time, which could be one thing that helped their approval ratings. they were back home rather than here. -- i don't think it is a surprise saying congress in particular -- you have bipartisan agreement in congress to fight another branch, isgress looks like it getting together and doing something. and their case, doing something very popular, which is opposing a syria strike. that does suggest -- well, we have to see what happens with the approval ratings, whether the president regains his political footing and whether congress returns to its regular and look likers you can't get anything done. but specifically on boehner, it is absolutely a test. three big test coming up. first, how he handles the continuing resolution and second, the deal on the debt limit. on the limit, he has long set a

dollar of spending cuts for every dollar of debt limit increase. he won it and the 2011 debt deal, which is why we have the pathster and the spending which led us in a better financial position. and the last go around, he did not win a dollar spending cuts. everyone was symbolic vote on the budget. stick toe is able to that logic and is one test of leadership. continuing resolution and spending on obamacare, and then you the question of what happens with immigration and whether he brings that bill to the floor. there is a lot of pressure from outside and from democrats and from the senate -- senate republicans -- to bring the bill to the floor. but if congress does not want to see it on the floor -- much of an immigration fight on the floor. much more messy fight. they are all big test. host: on approval rating, let me add this from a viewer on twitter --

has thatthe president going for him, his secretary of state is viewed as positive. actor congress, though. what is actually going to be happening on the floor -- back to congress, though. what is actually going to be happening on the floor? guest: the senate is on an energy efficiency bill, but doing very little big -- debate. the amendment process is would've a free-for-all. the senate has been bumping along with doing some big things like immigration, but generally down on the big debate. the senate came through june and they agreedion and to keep the debate on immigration because it was such a hot topic and there was pressure to get a bill done. then they spent most of july and the middle of nomination fights. that is a different thing. we had basically three months or so. they were gone in august. there were three months where there were policy debates that

built up that folks were eager to get amendments on and force each other to vote on. while it is an energy bill on the floor, most of the conversation right now is over --ndments such as such we should we stop obamacare? a real push from republicans. also amendments dealing with the keystone energy production, which is an energy issue but not really straight on energy efficiency. but there are a lot of big policy debates that folks want to get everybody up on board again. the other thing that happens in the senate -- and this is an interesting thing to senate, ans is interesting, president obama starts using his regulatory approach, taking defensive action to regulatory orders to do what i want with my agenda, congress because it says -- that is my job, republicans offer amendments to disapprove of and have their say afterwards. the.ally these are

stagnation building of themselves. is whether they do the continuing resolution. the big action is happening in committees this week. we will talk about those in a minute. i want to get our viewers involved. -- host: we will talk about those in a minute. i want to get viewers involved. jack, florida, hello. caller: good morning. when the gentleman said we are borrowing 20 cents of every dollar that we spend, i would like to remind everyone that ronald reagan's first dollars -- first budget bar of 25 cents for every dollar and the republican party has never looked back. he double the national debt in the first term, tripled it in the second term.

not like republicans. i have a blue streak in me. these republicans, six republican recessions i have lived through. people are crazy. shut down the government? you have to be nets. guest: his numbers are correct, that is exactly right. we have only had balanced fromts for four years, 1998 through 2001, and then before that you have to go back finde 1950's or 1960's to balanced budgets. this has been a continuing problem for years and years. one interesting thing that we are headed for, first of all we are about to have the first year of under $1 trillion deficits.

second, we are about to have the second year in a row where the government overall the had actually spent last minute did the previous year. the last time that happened was after world war ii period the previous time that that has happened since world war ii was the early 1950's. we are talking nearly 50 years where we had two years where government spending actually dropped. host: independent caller, texas, good morning. host: we are listening. caller: with all of these people if mom and popy,

do not go along, something will happen to the children. this continues to be our situation. if this spending situation is , spending being cut the way afford to docan we the rose parties? whatecond question, component is gerrymandering and redistricting? these people who are opposed to these things, if we are a government by the people, for the people? are actually really good questions. gerrymandering, quickly, i think

that has a lot to do with it. both questions tie together well. decades or so,o maybe even longer, we have essentially been playing with monopoly money. the government has been able to borrow, democrats get the spending they want, republicans get the low tax rates and military. we have been on the tab for the future. lot of theseer a differences. that time is over. the tea party movement in 2010, the push back on the bush years and the first couple years of the obama administration, we all agree that we have to live within some sort of limits. it has made all the fights on capitol hill more pointed. once we decided we could not just paper over differences,

that is the reason we have these fights and, because suddenly those issues are a lot more pointed. going back to the point about gerrymandering, for the last 2 1/2 years the speaker of the house has talked about the american people be ready for an adult conversation on spending and deficits, but i have not seen the evidence of that. american people still want social security, they want education spending, they want the spending comes out of washington and they like low tax rates. the american people are not ready for this conversation on spending. members of the caucus are beginning to have that conversation, that is why you get the gridlock, when they said they want it all. gerrymandering is where you stick a lot of one party into the same district so that the competitive for primary elections rather than the general elections, when you do

that you do not have this conversation in the middle. the democratic conversation going on in 200 house districts. i would say that that winds up hurting the chances for an adult conversation, spending and lower side,on the democratic the wealthy can pay more, there is no middle ground debate. host: let me add to that dynamic with this tweet -- guest: that is interesting. i do not know that i agree with that. i mean health care was certainly them working for the president.

he got a lot of what you wanted in the first two years of his presidency. of the smaller parts of his agenda. what the last year and a half have showed is the honeymoon is over. he will no longer get what he wants just by being president. that happens to every second term president. there was a point in the bush administration, right? 2003, when president bush ordered congress to pass a prescription drug bill as part of medicare, a tough vote for republicans who did not want to do that, that was sort of the last free vote that president bush got. president obama is now in that position as well. the same thing has happened and it is interesting to watch. host: baltimore, republican caller.

caller: yes, i am a republican in a very, very blue state. i get very little representation .n congress i guess my -- the congressional agenda, the president is not going to get everything he wants or a lot of what he wants in a continuing resolution or a debt ceiling situation. when he says he is not going to deal with anybody? that just gives resolve to the republicans in the house and the senate. it gives them enough ammunition to say that this guy will not do what needs to be done. he is still trying to push through his agenda, which would be wonderful if we had unlimited money, but we do not. guest: the key question there is what sort of deal he is willing to deal at the end.

his arguments are two fold. first, if the spending levels that were agreed to in the previous year, those are in law, so the question is why should we attach other political fights to that? he made it clear that he had won the obama care fight and did not get unseated in the last election, the senate remains the autocratic and the argument was your votes have not gone anywhere. if you want to stop obama care the way to do that is to win over the mind of the public and win more elections, not to hold hostage the rest of government spending. on the debt limit, there are a lot of capitol hill folks that make the same argument, that is money that has already been

contacted. decided theyeady are going to spend at and they have already set the tax levels to give the funding that comes in for less than what they are spending. it is simply a matter of saying that we will pay the debts we already ran up. he says there is no reason to negotiate with that. one of the thing that should have mentioned is the problem for the leadership, the bill but they put on the floor last week thanin $20 billion higher where it was supposed to be set with sequesters. that was another problem out there. it was not just that they had this tricky way of allowing evoke, but they also had different funding levels that angered a lot of republicans. senator tom coburn last week issued a letter to his colleagues saying -- we made a

commitment in the debt deal on the level that we would be at. that, theyl not do will have a major fight. host: here are some headlines about what is going on with the republican party and capitol hill. guest: what you're seeing there is sort of the perfect storm.

leadership always has this problem. their job is to get the basics of government done. in this case it means spending and keeping the government moving at some level. the rank-and-file, they want to win and are not necessarily as interested in process as they are in victories. we have got to do some basic things to show the -- show the we can govern this place. conservative voters that we are succeeding in stopping the president's agenda and are rolling it back. that is the crux of the fight you're seeing right there. to pronounceme how your town, caller? caller: [indiscernible]

host: go ahead. congress, the way they are acting in the constitution, their political agenda as far as , doblicans and democrats you think this congress will be like the 112th? as this benghazi thing that they are going back to on their agenda, is it going to be just for the way in the side they just do not want to get together to make america strong >> benghazi is an interesting issue -- the mayor to strong? benghazi is an

interesting issue. congress trend -- challenging whether the consulate was safe enough. there were a lot of questions in the beginning about something bad happening. have frayed as the questions get more political around unfortunate mistakes. when congress acts together, that is when congress is thus popular. quickly on the first point, putting partisanship is not in the minds of many of the folks up there, were elected they put

their politics behind them. they believe that they were andted to see it through elected to do those things. i run the utility index, which tracks how much it's done. we are on track for another win here. tweet -- guest: i think it is his second term. he has absolutely become the face of those who are challenging their leadership and president obama. he is one of the biggest challengers around going to war and the nsa. something that he has taken over for ron paul, the former

congressman, who was known as dr. noel for voting against policy. a strongtely has stance that is getting him noticed. host: "the wall street journal" has pictures of the remaining contenders. what do we know about when this announcement will be made? how's it looking? death a clearing this up a he has been a part of the president's team several times before. he was seen as the president's favorite. as the other candidate, it was

seen as this big debate. did he go with the person he really wanted? or who his base wanted? the question now is does he choose janet yellen or go for one of these dark horses? -- host: what do you make of a democratic president with dry candidates that everyone says he really wanted because of where the nominee had to go first? guest: i have a lot of friends remember his comments when he was a guest at harvard about women and their role in academics. i guess there are two sides to this.

there are folks who think he is an economic genius around the president's policies, but a lot of folks first what do not like those policies with personal style that has turned into a lot of problems. he could not continue to fight his own party on that. host: good morning. caller: you mentioned that you track the progress in congress, but i wish someone would track the bills that cannot get past and what it costs the american people.

no president has reduced the deficit faster than this one since 1950. the tax rate is at the lowest war ii.ce world people do not remember their history. the rich were paying a 95% tax rate. in congress someone said the bipartisan should be both sides. their starting point is that this is the line and it will not cross it. blaming the president,

but the whole direction that this country has gone, it is all about meat, meat, i get a tax break, should my jobs overseas. we have no industrial manufacturing base. can take any job the one in the repair shops. people that were willing to train me. nowadays everything is made in china, india, pakistan. people call this an exceptional country, but the only thing exceptional about it is the between poor and rich. host of this story is in "usa today." 90% of these expenditures going

to the individual. what about his comments? guest: both sides are what i talked about earlier, with the american people never -- not allowed to -- not ready for the conversation. his argument is that the government should be able to afford more. that is of course because he had the highest deficits by far. notging them down was maybe necessarily difficult. tax increases earlier this year absolutely helped with that. one thing that was interesting, this changed at the beginning of the year, the congressional budget office, the chief scorekeeper for congress and the government basically said that ,f congress cut out a picture

if the spending cuts that were built into logic affect, the spending picture would be different from where they , keeping tax rates low and spending high in her. -- spending higher. do anything,idone thing that wt we would be in better shape. it is a classic fight. the question is, how far along are voters? host: on the front page of "usa today." "goodbye easy money." host: on health care, we have "since when should

be governed by opinion polls -- host: on her point about the polls, let me show the front page of "usa today." health care exchanges at the part of the region started the exchange,-as they have never been, disapproval over the handling of health care has hit a new high." host: then the front page of " watson -- "the wall street -- aal" has this poll challenge on the eve of the rollout with core provisions, many american -- many americans do not understand the law or think it will help them.

guest: there was a supreme court case that found most of it , and theional individual mandate was constitutional. i think that both sides were surprised by that. that they were all caught unaware. the administration, all evidence, they have been that congress has not made a significant dent in it. talking about how far behind they are and what is missing, they are in danger of falling the job for the

administration being a lot worse. is was energizing them to say that they're winning this fight, that it is getting less if they just stick to their guns. having said that, chuck schumer last week made an interesting point and i think he is correct, those who believe that all of government spending should be held hostage to that is probably only 5% of the people. republicans looking at the if they just stickpopular, is a basicere federal health spending stop. can they push that

without getting blamed? host: florida, democratic caller, go ahead. caller: these republicans are , i am about obama care tired of them cry about obama care when they do not have a plan. more people inve a split district. they should have a district where it goes either way either time. america works better when we work together. we are always try to politicize everything.

is about tax reform. they talk all the talk, but now i would like to have all of you people in press puts them on these issues. let them have a tax cut. thet: i will start with first one on health care, the republican plan is a good point. hallsesident in his town that thepoint republicans keep talking about eliminating obama care, the promise to repeal it and replace it and we still have not seen the replacement plan. it is a good point. we have republicans saying to get rid of it with nothing to replace it.

the president says he has something on the table, maybe the people do not like it, but it is better than 40 million uninsured. the question is whether the voters agree with that. tip past that point and they say it is so bad, so confusing, we would rather be where we were, then the president is in real trouble. that there may be a government shutdown to get rid of it, they are not there yet. this problem has played republicans. it is tough to come up with a consensus. they had 50 votes in the senate with an overwhelming majority in the house. ,hey cannot unify on a solution they are left with no alternative. host: the report coming out of geneva is that the head of the panel on war crimes is

investigating 14 suspected chemical attacks, this coming reassume from the un inspection report given to the u.n. security council being briefed unit this morning, the secretary-general is expected to address the media this afternoon. the chemical weapons report is supposedly one to assign blame. what: we will have to see that does for the debate. number of folks in congress have called for and are pushing for a resolution calling for the high leaders to be held responsible in the international criminal court, to be put on trial for war crimes. i imagine this would put pressure on all sides around syria, but it could raise the issue again, that could be the issuethat brings high leaders s

back and dominates again. host: for the viewer is joining us, buthe deal that was brokere, according to "usa today," "could not be a worse signal for another country saying that the u.s. needs to go farther." a republican from wyoming rights in "the wall street journal," about why the russians cannot be trusted in syria and that we should be ready with a plan be if this deal falls through. guest: if you view international politics as a zero cut -- zero sum game, it is clear right now that russia and syria are winning right now with u.s. policy makers losing, if you view it as a zero sum game, which is exactly issue what mccain does. we had essentially given the

regime in syria legitimacy, by saying we will deal with them. boost.d be seen as a dinan, appreciate it. coming up next we will look at our partnership with kaiser health news. we will be here to let you know about preparations for launching a nationwide health care exchanges on october 1. will joinhard gowan us for a closer look at the role of the mission of the un peacekeeping forces. we will be right back. ♪

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>> "washington journal" continues. host: we continue our series today looking at the affordable care act of 2010 and our partnership with kaiser health news, trying to update you on the latest and what is happening next. as many of you know, the deadline is looming. we are two weeks away from side out. what do people need to know? start signing up october 1, but to do not have to. as long is your sign up by september 15, you will have coverage by january 1. you need to know that. of new optionsw coming your way if you are uninsured.

you likely qualify for medicaid. about $46,000 for an individual, private insurance on the exchange. host: who will be required to sign up on the first, who will not be? guest: there will be an individual mandate with a penalty but if you already have and wonder if it does , those who will not apply. will be open enrollment, like you have every year if you

are a medicare beneficiary. from onere is a story of your colleagues in there, seniors caution about health insurance. guest: that is right, that is right, and that is really to protect seniors, you do not want them to purchase a policy that they are not eligible for and do not need. host: what happens on october 1? guest: exchanges go on line. go online, through a navigator, someone who helps to purchase insurance, you can go to the local community health center, another way to get

coverage. there are just going to be people all over the place looking for coverage in a music concert, people try to sell you coverage. host: he should go to health care.gov, click on see your options -- explain what people would find there. guest: it is a government catchall site for obama care. you will go online and pick your stay. if you live in a state running its own exchange, that has to be more democratic, going along with obama care. to aill be sent over portal run by the state. there you will be putting in a whole bunch of information. they will be spinning out options for you. what can you get in terms of subsidies to help you pay for

them? a state that is not running its own exchange, like virginia, for example, that is going to be a health care side, they will send you over to the root virginia portal. host: who are navigators'? what are they doing? guest: they are in your community to help and to sign you up. the government has been given s ands to the exchange' there is a limited pool of funds, sounds like it is not that much, but what they will do is it will be your local soup kitchen, any kind of community liker clinic, anything that that has been given grants, it is people whose job is to help consumers sign up for

coverage. they can help to walk to the process, the information that you need, helping you to determine the differences in the plans you might be eligible for. be held atthere other retailers? health insurance companies? are these places getting money from the federal government echo guest: community health clinics are getting separate amounts of money to help you sign up. you have these navigator groups getting money to sign up as well. all of those companies, insurers, hospitals, it is in their financial interest to make sure that as many people sign up as possible. to are seeing more direct consumer advertising than ever before. they want people to come into the exchange. they want the business.

hospitals in particular, the more people are covered, the less free care they have to give. host: we are talking about health exchanges with jenny gold in our partnership with kaiser health news. are uninsured and are required to get health insurance, there are two ways today. to get yournt personal story about what this has been like. if you have any questions or comments about signing a for these exchanges. they are still looking at their ability to open these programs. what have the states decided? guest: more than expected decided not to run their own

exchange. that is why so much of this is coming on line late in the game. you have got so many states splitting a fairly small amount of money. the state statistics -- did decide to run their own exchanges, they have their own money and advertising. states like connecticut, california, maryland, they have what has amounted to an entitlement program to do that. host: is that the problem with the confusion? confusedcans are about the law, is that the crux of the confusion? that states and federal programs are not helping to get the word out?

guest: states that are holding their own exchange, you would find the people there do not know much either. i think there has been a lack of action on the part of the administration to sell obama care. consumers really need to know what to do and they do not know, even the people that benefit do not know what to do with it. it was not medicare part d, where there were groups going out to senior centers, they took a long time explaining what it was and how people could sign up. there is a wonderful story about went through the tundra of rural alaska. we have not seen anything like that.

of thehat about some efforts to educate the public? guest: there have been some pretty funny advertisements, one of my favorite is in minnesota, they decided to have paved the blocks and paul bunyan be their mascot. they are pretty funny advertisements. oregon has taken a much more hokey view of things, they have a folk singer with her guitar and a great song because with it. there are states putting it out to theiring to appeal target audience. is the part of the population that this administration definitely needs to sign up. you will see really high premiums in the exchanges, most the people health cuts.

this will help to bring down premiums for everyone because they do not have a lot of medical costs. first of all, these are mostly male and non-white. you are going to see quite a bit of targeted advertising. in oregon again they are planning to put their advertisements on coffee cups, drinking coffee, connecticut in the summer, giving out free sun screen that says get covered on the beach, planes flying overhead. they have been getting pretty creative. host: mostly young men have been

,olled in insurance programs having men, typical, they do not want to go see a doctor. if you have young, healthy people who do not want to see a doctor? it is not like we do not want them to see a doctor at all. problem, you should definitely see the doctor, but the point is that these men and women do not send to have as many problems that cost as much money. host: john has been hanging on the line in maine. go ahead, john. what is your association? veterans affairs? caller: yes, i am enrolled in atlanta, georgia. we were already getting v.a. health care. do we need to sign up?

guest: absolutely not. best has been confusing, if you have health coverage, you are good to go. you are insured, meeting the mandate requirement. the changes for the individual market. these people are getting it to their employers, through the v.a., to the federal government. john, md., uninsured. caller: i have had my insurance from the same association for many years. i had a waiver of premium in my policy. the insurance company would pay the premium.

the association had lobbyists and other people going to senators and such. they canceled all 33,000 of us. it left me in a hard spot. i purchased a premium and it is gone. guest: you are someone who would be absolutely eligible to purchase on the exchange. if your income is under the federal poverty level, you will be eligible for free insurance to medicaid. between 100% and 400%, you will be eligible for subsidies through a private plan on the exchange. if you have a lower income that means they will be much larger. it is a sliding scale.

those subsidies will obviously taper off. is from jesse in virginia. guest: i am sorry, i do not know the answer to that question, i was under the impression that you get your subsidies on a monthly basis. i believe that he would only be paying your share of the 60% of yourering premium, every given month he pay 40%.

host: jerry, massachusetts. caller: the original medicare with the policy that i buy in the open market, does obama care affect at all medigap policies? guest: i do not believe it does and i do not believe they will be selling on the exchange. this does not affect you, even if you have one of those policies. -- host:his e-mail -- we have an e-mail from sherry -- thet: this is all part of conversation we are having, part of a conversation where there is a tremendous amount of debate about whether this is a good thing or not a good thing. regardless, they seem to be

moving forward. host: on the first point, whether or not it is ready, what have you heard about them being ready to go? guest: i think there may be some bugs in there. talking about the subsidized exchange plans in the first year, beginning october 1, we have six months. expecting a are trickle of people applying, which may be better for the administration, it gives them time to work out the kinks in the exchanges. as far as i know, does exchanges are set to go online live on october 1.

some of the states may have problems in the beginning. people one are capitol hill, they will be asking for personal information. if someone is going to use and navigator what kind of information can expect to be asked? where does this information go? guest: into the exchange portal. i actually bought a short for individuals, not for families. the family plan is more complicated. three pages, not actually that much. you need your name, your address, your social security number and income information. it will help the government determine whether or not you're eligible for a subsidy or a medicaid plan. if you are offered employer insurance, they have to provide

additional information showing whether the plan is affordable. if it is over 9.5% of your income in premiums, it is not considered affordable and you have to move into the exchange, if it is under 95% you have to stay with your employer. or paybring your w-2 stub, that should be adequate. there have definitely been concerns where certain states have even passed a mandatory background tests. people are definitely trying to make the navigator as safe and smooth as possible while at the same time not discouraging people. host: do you know how many they have hired?

guest: in the federal facilitated exchange states, there are 100 workgroups in community centers, advocacy groups, all sorts of folks who are getting these exchanges. are in turn working with various other on the ground organization, hiring navigators. i do not know how much they are actually going to have. gold, from kaiser health news, independent from the family foundation at kaiser, they have partnered with c-span to update all of you on the affordable care act. we have updated our lines and divided them by those who are insured and those who are not. sharyl, the lead. caller: i am 50 years old and lived in georgia.

georgia is trying not to participate in the obama program? i am confused about that. , by incomeestion is fluctuates. retired and i worked part- time in real estate. that market is up and down. never the same every year. guest: this is a really good question. first of all, let's address your state. i believe that in georgia they do not have their own exchange. these are one of the state's i was talking about with the federal government can come in and the exchange is being run for them. i believe they are not exchanging -- expanding medicaid.

if you earn over 100%, you cannot get a subsidy. inre is not held for you states that are not expanding, which can be a problem. in terms of your particular situation, that will be a difficult thing. you will have to guess what your income is going to be. your subsidies will be safe from in states that are notthe. if at the end of the year you make more than was expected you will have to pay back the subsidies. if you know that your income is going to be lower or higher than expected, let the government know as soon as possible. you will have to pay that back. n.c., hello.o, have a lot of questions

from an accounting perspective. a lot of things are bothering me about this. i am wondering how the cost compares between the so-called and -- and how you justify the medicare cost for those folks with subsidies from a 15,000 when a lot of people on social security do not make that. if you get medicare, in that , isgory if you own assets

medicaid going to want to come take your property? getting medicaid would your , these questions are not being answered. guest: i think you are confusing medicare and medicaid, you are going to be eligible for medicaid in the state that is not based on your assets or income. again, itn over that will be based on your income. is unders your income 400%, you are going to get

health insurance. host: we have this tweet -- guest: i believe that that may be in the first year, but they all are one to be checking it against your irs income. host of new york, joe. guest: hello. caller: i have insurance, my wife does not have any insurance. she worked for the town through part-time jobs. she had to go to the emergency room last weekend. my question is, is there going

to be some kind of subsidy for her? hostguest: absolutely. she will be eligible for a subsidy, you are at the federal poverty level, your wife will be eligible. i am so sorry to hear about her trip to the emergency room. in the past with ever happened would have counted against her. had she been diagnosed with something for premium might have been higher, but that is no longer there are no more pretend this -- existing conditions here. you will be able to get a premium that is the same as other people her age. webpre-existing condition, ever it is, will not affect that.

host: do you have a follow-up? caller: how about dental? guest: i do not have information on that. i believe there may be some dental coverage but i'm not sure. next and has insurance in salem, oregon, go ahead. caller: good morning. i'm one of those people that fall into that 35-$40,000 per year category. implementedre was or going into effect starting a couple of years ago, i had a cadillac plan through the teamsters insurance. per year.ingzero i have a lesser insurance policy paying $1600 per year. as far as i have been told by my company, we will be tossed onto

the exchange. i really hate that. -- severaln i have of the people i know have pre- existing conditions. when they go into these exchanges, will be's rates be based -- will these rates be based on a higher rate because we are all treated the same under the teamster protection? what kind of rates cap i look forward to next year? you have a pre- existing condition, it will not count against you. your rate will depend on your state, what kind of plan you want, and your age. there is some age rating so it is a 3-1 ratio, older people can be charged a maximum of three times what a younger person can be charged. you will have to go online

october 1 and check your state and find out what the rates will be. when you see those rates, if the plan you had through your cheap, it does not necessarily mean it was good. under obamacare, all of the plans will have to have a mandatory set of benefits, things like hospital care, dr. care, free preventive services. arehave to make sure you comparing apples to apples. the plan may look more expensive on the exchange but it may cover more than what you previously had. another important point is that you will have a lot of choices on the exchange and that will be hard. it will be hard for people to pick a plan they want. the navigators can help or you can have a broker help you. it is really tough to decide which plan is right for you. there is different levels of plans bring you will see a bronze plan that looks cheap and then they get aggressively more expensive, the silver plan, the gold plan, the platinum land is

the most expensive. each of those plans has an important difference. they have different cost- sharing. once you hit your deductible, the bronze plan will only cover 60% of your medical costs. the premiums will be low but if you get really sick, it will not cover all of your care. that goes up to 90% of your medical care in the platinum plan. you have to decide for you what kind of risk you are willing to take and if you than she will have big medical expenses that year. it might make financial sense to pay a higher premium to get more of your cost-sharing taken care of. host: here is an e-mail -- guest: this will be a problem for many people in states that not that -- that are not expanding medicare. whatever the state is currently offering in medicaid will stay. tothat offers coverage up

70% of the federal poverty level for mothers and children, you will continue to get that. you will not get the coverage up to 138% that was promised and obamacare because the supreme court declared that requirement unconstitutional for states. -- that isabove 100% an interesting group of people. in a state where medic kate is willeing extended, they get a significant subsidy to buy a private plan on the exchange. if, however, they earn under 100% of the poverty level -- there are childless adults -- chances are, they will not qualify for anything. i think that will be hard for navigators in those states in particular to have the poorest people come to them and say sorry, you are too poor to get health care. host: west palm beach, florida, uninsured, go ahead.

i want tood morning, give a quick story about me -- insurance until the time i was 40. i paid out-of-pocket. i was not employed. i took care of myself because i work for myself. i paid out-of-pocket. at 40, my premiums nearly quadrupled because i had hit 40. i was the picture of health. i was a dancer. from the age of 42 now, i am 52 years old, i paid out of pocket for my health care. i never spent more than two or $3000 per year. bitch about the insurance companies. i did not complain to the government about why my premiums have gone up. doctor andd with my i never went to the emergency

room. last year, i went to the emergency room once for the first time in my life. i paid out-of-pocket for that. you brought something up earlier that if those young people do not sign up for those exchanges, i am screwed. i am the one that will have to pay for all this. i am the one that will save my rates skyrocket because i have pre-existing conditions like everybody my age. i am above the poverty level. therefore, i will have to pay out-of-pocket. i can envision my premiums going 6000, 8000, 10 thousand, $12,000 per year. who is going to pay for this? all theike me and for employeese the fedex that all of a sudden have their spouses dropped from their coverage and all those employees that were working 40 hours and are now working 30 because their employers do not want to pay for toma care, welcome

socialism. you asked for it, you got it, thank you for c-span. host: i want to throw out this article for you in "usa today." what did you hear from that caller? guest: there was a lot of concern and anger. i think it's too early to know what your premium will be. you mention pre-existing and that means that right now, if you went to an insurer on the individual market, your plan will be very expensive. if you've got pre-existing conditions and 53, you are one of the people that could potentially see your premiums go down. i cannot guarantee that and i

don't know what your state is but that is likely. in terms of getting young people to sign up, young people are buted young invincible's many are concerned about not having coverage and want to get that. i think that will be especially true after the first year when you see the mandate penalties go up. it will suddenly make more sense to actually get a plan than to pay the penalty. in addition, i don't know how much you are earning but you may qualify for a subsidy. age will help you. host:aj is insured in russellville, alabama. morning, i have been watching this thing about healthcare and the obama plan for years. i buy insurance on the open market and have it in four years. i dealt with extremely high rates. we did the math once -- we would

have to spend $100,000 retail insurance if our insurance company [inaudible] there is a lot of attention going toward putting more people on insurance and the more people led by this will bring the premiums down. we saw this with automobile insurance and everybody was required and that would drive the premiums done and it has not done so. attention ofany the price gouging going on within the medical field. you've got these insurance companies paying $.10 on the dollar for all of this billing. the people that don't have insurance, when they get services, they have to pay full retail and being held hostage by the medical field, hospitals, doctors with their credit ruined because they are getting hosed. why is it that we cannot level the playing field on all of this?

a doctor or hospital should not be able to charge somebody without insurance anymore than than they could charge the 90% of people who are covered. a role in thes affordable care act that addresses that. priceits hospitals from touting and customers without insurance. i believe it limits the cost, the lowest cost insurer and what they are paying. there is that qualification in the health law. you make a great point. the affordable care act is a law about insurers. insurance products and changing the way insurance is priced. doctorsot really hit and hospitals nearly as hard. you're making a great point. there is a lot of problems going with terms of charging insurers and americans in general a high rate for procedures and visits that cost much less than other countries.

that is what we will have to address perhaps in another piece of legislation or as we get further along. that will continue to be an issue. there are pieces of the affordable care act that start to address that. it tries to change the way doctors and hospitals get paid. it will pay them based on how well they do and the quality of care they give. rather than the sheer amount of procedures they do. we will see how effective that is in bringing down costs overall. in the last couple of years, we have seen healthcare costs go down a little bit. but it's not enough. it will have to continue going down over the next few years. on our line for those who are uninsured, david in pennsylvania -- caller: i have been listening a little bit this morning. you, i have with

not put a whole lot of attention into my health care over the last few years. if i give you some information about my situation, can you and lighten me? guest: i will try. i am 51 and have not had health insurance for six years and that relatively healthy except might be a might index -- allowed me tohas be turned down by insurance three times. i am turned down at the regular level but because of my bmi i could qualify at a higher rate. it was going to be $900 per quarter, $300 per month but they wanted a full quarter within a 30 day period. i am still in the process of that.

my weight is not going to be considered a pre-existing condition? $35,000-$45,000 as a worker. i don't have access to any insurance. air are no benefits from the company i work for. i do home healthcare. what would be the best thing for me to do? guest: you are exactly the kind of consumer that will benefit the most from the affordable care act. you are 51 and you have a high bmi. in the past, insurers would refuse to give you coverage or charge way high rate but that is no longer the case. a cannot refuse you. they cannot charge you more. otherll be charged as any 51-year-old individual. you will go onto the the exchange and by your coverage there. you will receive a subsidy if $5,000 but,000-40

i'm not sure how high. you will have to make a couple of decisions online. you will have to decide which insurance company you want to go with. in most states, you will have several options. then you have to decide which plan level you want. do you want a low premium and go with a bronze or silver plan but assume quite a caught -- what a bit of cost sharing? do you think you will have significant medical costs in the coming year so do you want to go with a gold or platinum plan? you may end up paying less money in the end. another thing is do you have a doctor you like or a hospital you like? narrowans will have networks. in order to keep costs down, they don't have all of the doctors and hospitals covered with him the plan you need to go in there knowing what's important to you. is it just the premium cost or is it getting to stay with the

dr. you have seen for 20 years? if that's the case, you can make a decision based on that. if you've got questions and issues like that, i suggest you call the hotline. there is a hotline an individual states and the federal government where they can walk you through the process. take -- if you say table at a health there are go into your local community clinic or hospital or your local cvs, all of those have places that can help you walk through picking the plan that's right for you and that will be important. this is a question about young people -- how many young people can the administration count on to join these exchanges? -- thethis is an example administration believes that 7 million people are going to join the exchanges this year.

they are desperately hoping that 2.7 million of them are going to be young and healthy. 19 million people in the u.s. aged 18-34 are not insured. that is a large group of people. 8 million of them will qualify for medicaid but 9 million of them will qualify for exchange subsidies. they are hoping those people and get aon board policy that's robust and purchase on the exchange. thatiduals that are lying -- that are buying on the individual market right now that maybe are earning more than 140% of the poverty level would not qualify for a subsidy, may pay a higher rate and that is entirely possible. right now, you can get a catastrophic plan, a plan that does not offer you a lot of benefits but costs a small amount of money if you are young and healthy. it is pretty capyou may pay $70n

premiums. that is very little. if you buy on the exchange and you don't qualify for a subsidy, you may see a higher rate. that is because you're getting a more robust policy but also because you are no longer getting such a big benefit from the inning young and healthy. it levels the playing field but that means that people who are older and sicker will see their premiums go down and it means the people who are young and healthy may see their premiums go up. tot: for more information go kaiser health news.org. you can follow her on twitter. thank you very much for your time. some breaking news out of washington -- it is reported that the u.s. navy says one person is injured after a shooting at a navy holding here in washington. police and emergency crews gathered monday morning.

we will keep an eye on that story this morning. we will take a short break and when we come back, new york university professor richard gowen will discuss the peacekeeping force. we will he write back. -- we will be right back. ♪ >> we were intervenors on the side of the federal communications commission in this case. we were supporting the fcc's determination that there was a concern with these bottleneck companies controlling who are the winners and losers on the thernet and that they had legal authority and the

authority under the first amendment and elsewhere in the communications act to protect consumers and protect competition by prohibiting these gatekeepers from favoring certain content services and applications over others. >> our position has been to oppose the adoption of net neutrality rules on both policy and legal grounds. said,missioner mcdowell and this is an important point in terms of policy issue -- there was literally no evidence and the commission itself did not make any findings that the internet providers actually have market power. >> can internet service providers block or slow content over the internet? details of the sec case tonight on "the communicators."

the student cam video competition is underway and open to all middle and high school students and we are doubling the number of winners in prize money. create a five-seven minute documentary on the most important issue congress should consider next year and you should include c-span video and show varying points of view and is due by january 20. visit student cam.org for more information. in our last hour, we are taking a look at how your tax dollars are being spent. is joining us from new york this morning, from the center of international operations for new york university. with the purpose of the un peacekeeping force, our topic this morning. it's worth keeping in mind that the un does not have a single peacekeeping force. around 100,000ot

troops and police and civilian experts scattered around the globe in operations from haiti to the congo to the middle east. those operations are doing very different things case-by-case. on the golan heights, un peacekeepers are watching the standoff between israel and syria. in the congo, they are fighting militias in the eastern congo on the border with uganda. in haiti, they are trying to build up the state and get law and order sustainably in place. un peacekeepers to very different things in very different laces. more talk a little bit about how big this peacekeeping force is and who belongs to the force. peacekeeping has been at a record high in recent years. 100,000 personnel, mainly

troops, but also police officers and the core of civilians who are experts in issues like human rights and mediation. the troops mainly come from africa and asia. east, you have a significant number of european troops serving under un command. in africa, it's mainly soldiers from the continent and india, pakistan, china, increasingly. operation that the u.s. funds significantly. the u.s. pays nearly 1/3 of the budget which is now over $7 billion. u.s. troops are not really resident in u.s. missions. -- in un missions. this is a task that the un -- that the u.s. leads to its allies especially from africa and asia. host: the united states picks up about 1/3 of that tab,

$2 billion. talk about the history of this. how did this peaks -- peacekeeping force start and why? guest: it began in the 1940s and 1950s in the middle east. the first peacekeeping operation of any size was set up in 1956 in the sinai to help end of the suez crisis. the first big peacekeeping operation in africa was in the congo in the early 1960s. belgium had been the colonial power there and it pulled out and the country fell apart and the un sent in troops backed by the kennedy administration to try to bring order to the congo. peacekeeping began and the cold

war but it only really took off at the end of the cold war. operations of the 1990s that you will remember were those in bosnia, somalia and other places. those missions were sometimes very unsuccessful. i think we all recall the and une in rwanda peacekeepers could not stop those atrocities. that has a lingering effect on the reputation of peacekeeping but the un is an organization that learns from failure and un peacekeeping today in places su is more efficiently run and much more effective than those missions in the early 1990s. host: what does the united states get for its $2 billion? anst: the united states gets immense bargain from un peacekeeping. you got to understand that un peacekeeping sounds expensive,

$2 billion for the u.s., nearly eight lien dollars overall, but it is much cheaper than deploying nato troops or u.s. troops. that iteen calculated costs 20% per soldier. if you compare the cost of nato troops in afghanistan, that is vastly greater than a u.s. mission. the un is deployed in places tot are direct concern american security and america's world vision. one example is haiti where the un has helped maintain stability to rebuild the country after the earthquake in 2010. another example is lebanon. un peacekeepers have been in lebanon since the late 1970s. and maintain some stability avoiding a return to work between israel and has below. dad and has the law.

hezbollah.below -- is a cheap option for providing security in places the u.s. cares about. host: what other countries contribute? guest: financially, it is the european union. e member states provide 40% of the budget, around 10% more than the u.s.. europeans only really send troops to the middle east to operations like lebanon and the golan heights. in terms of soldiers, the biggest contributors are india, pakistan, and then african countries such as south africa, tanzania, ghana. it is mainly troops from the global south that carry the burden of un peacekeeping. in the haitian case, it is slightly different. it is actually brazil, argentina, and chile.

for those latin american countries working through the un and haiti, it is a way of showing greater international responsibility. that is something the u.s. has always welcomed. host: according to the un peacekeeping website -- rochar gowan is joining us from new york. is joining usn from new york. the associated press reports this moments ago --

i read a story earlier that said un peacekeepers are preparing to go into syria. what sort of preparations do peacekeeping forces have to go into a country like syria? what needs to be done? guest: the un has already sent one peacekeeping force to syria. sadly short-lived and a small mission in syria in the first half of last year. it provided some pretty effective reporting on the scale of the fighting and the savagery of the syrian government. sadly, it was much too small a force to actually hold the violence. the un has been planning for some time for peacekeeping options in syria in scenarios such as a cease-fire or the collapse of the assad government. situations, the un does not have very much time to plan. not have very many

resources to plan with but syria is an exception. you have had un personnel working very hard on military options, different scenarios, and mediation options. that does not mean the deploying of peacekeeping forces to syria would be easy. in fact, it is a terrifying prospect. it is the idea of sending in troops to a country that has been so badly ravaged by war and where are there are so many different militia groups and terrorist groups active. does not always have a choice. if the security council decides it will send more peacekeepers to syria, they will go, whatever the risks. of people aspe part of this peacekeeping force would be sent into syria? what kind of professionals make up the force in general? guest: in a case like this, you have a range of options. in the first instance, you might

send in a fairly small group of military observers or possibly troops with the responsibility for guarding chemical weapons inspectors. if you were looking at a larger stabilization force, it would involve infantry, engineers, it would be a fairly standard military deployment. in a case like syria, the troops would probably come from a range of countries are it i think european countries would because deployed troops syria has been such a great concern for europe. a number of arab countries would come forward with soldiers. this would be a slightly different sort of force to those that we see in african cases like mali where the bulk of the hard work is done by african contingents. in a case like syria, you will probably air assets

and helicopters to move around. ,t is mainly european countries america's nato allies, that can provide those assets. host: when you take a look at the un field workforce, avid -- as of july, 2013 -- what kind of training do these people get him a kind of military assets do the un peace forces have? guest: the training is very mixed. in some cases, there really is not very much time to train peacekeepers before they deployed. . hen france went into mali, african peacekeepers were sent in to support the french but they had to be deployed in a

matter of days and what is not much time for training. the un likes to ensure that all the units that get into different countries are trained in working with communities and respecting human rights. some countries are better at that than others. in new york has put in place various programs to raise the quality of its peacekeepers. you mentioned the civilians. it is often civilians that really guide commission. it's the military that it into the media. you have a group of civilians who have worked in un missions earlying back to the 1990s, even the late 1980s, people with a great body of experience in cases such as cambodia and bosnia up till today. they understand issues like elting up legal systems, training police, monitoring human rights. they have a very wide body of expertise. to your second question -- what

sort of equipment does that un have -- that is sometimes a problem. in today's world and especially in complex environments like saddam hussein -- lycos udon or need helicopters, drones, the full at rate of military technology and the un does not always have the military assets it needs. it has a particular problem finding enough helicopters to send to trouble spots. it is only just starting to experiment with drones. it is years behind the u.s. and nato. the un is still slightly too reliant on infantry units that lack mobility and that is a problem for its forces. thatifficulty is helicopters cost money as well as drones in countries like the don'tnd european powers necessarily want to throw lots of cash at bringing un forces

right into the 21st century. host: we are talking about un peacekeeping forces as part of our " your money" series. we contribute to billion dollars to the un peacekeeping forces. our guest is joining us from new york. he is from the center on international cooperation. from twitter -- that is variable. when you deploy a un force into a country that has been broken by civil war war, the citizens are often delighted to see the blue helmets arrive. they place a huge amount of trust in the un. one problem for the un is some of the missions go on for years, in some cases decades. the longer the military are there, the less respect they get

from the local people. such as the congo were the un had significant forces since 2000, it is quite hard to maintain good relations with the population. they wonder why the un is still there and they wonder why the un has been unable to solve their problems. the respect starts to corrode overtime. ast: ryan is up worst with phone call from illinois, independent caller. -- is up first. caller: my name is ronnie. i've got one quick question and five quick comments. my own opinion, how much credibility does the un really have? own parkingay their tickets. they those thousands of dollars. you've got china as the a most- favored-nation trade partner,really they lock up

people for being christian. getsormer iranian leader up there and blasts the united states and we just let him. hugo chavez gets up there and blasts the united states. resolutions are ignored by everyone. how many resolutions by the un ?id saddam hussein ignore guest: un inspectors did a good job of helping break on saddam hussein plus nuclear arsenal. it was unfortunate the bush administration did not leave they had done that job or it after the u.s. invaded iraq, they discovered the un had been more effective than they thought. some of those points are very good indeed. there are real tensions inside the un. the diplomacy in new york, especially around the opening of the general assembly which happens later this month, can be pretty ludicrous.

beyondifficult to look the crazy diplomacy in new york and see the good the un is doing out in the field. the un is doing a huge amount of good out in the field. most of the peacekeepers in places like haiti or liberia don't really care about all this posturing back in new york. they want to get on and do the job of maintaining stability and building up functioning states. their work is not really affected by what mahmoud ahmadinejad or the late hugo chavez says to the general assembly. host: in the 68th session of the united nations which opens tomorrow, president obama is expected to travel to new york and actually to address the un assembly. we have learned that vladimir putin will not be attending. ohio, democratic caller -- unler: it seems like the

peacekeepers would be too little too late. sensems like assad makes if you want to look at the devil you know. it's us or the terrorists and i can see the russian position. they are scared to death of al qaeda and the chechnya and. nyans. host: what do you think about peacekeeping forces in syria? does russia have a say if they can go in? guest: absolutely, the security council provides all the mandates for peacekeeping forces. over the last few years, russia and china were able to veto any security council resolution they don't like. equally, the u.s. can veto resolutions that it does not like. to put peacekeepers back into syria, you need full agreement between russia and the u.s. about what those peacekeepers are going to do. i think russia has an interest

in eventually putting peacekeepers in syria. that is because russia does not want to see the communities that have supported president assad massacred by his opponents. jobs of any unt peacekeeping force in syria would be to try and secure all the different communities and ensure there are not revenge killings as the work comes to a close. i should also say this is a fairly distant prospect. fighting is going on, the diplomacy last week in geneva has not affected the level of fighting on the ground. it's very hard to tell exactly what circumstances peacekeepers might deploy to syria. host: fargo, north dakota, independent caller -- is withmy question regard to the peacekeepers in were alleged to have

committed rape among civilians. i don't know if that has been addressed at the un. host: that is a tweet as well -- sayingi think it's worth that all military forces deployed in difficult countries do make mistakes and sometimes units do stumble into committing atrocities. we have seen that with nato forces in afghanistan and western forces in iraq. problem and the un does have a track record of bad, committing sexual abuse, and courage and prostitution and some signs of getting involved in corruption, trafficking. i think there have been cases of

that in the congo. it is difficult for the un to ensure 100% discipline amongst its forces. -- 2004,ss, since 20 the un has strengthened its systems for dealing with sexual abuse. the un doesn't system sending foundroops who have been guilty or accused of sexual abuse. there is more of a zero policy them there once was. the un struggle sometimes to keep up with all of these different cases of malpractice in different countries. does have aly corrosive effect on the organization's reputation in the effect it countries and more generally, worldwide. host: here is another tweet -- have there been efforts to cut

our contribution to the united nations? guest: there are often debates in congress about cutting the un budget and especially the peacekeeping budget. it has grown quite large. it is approaching $8 billion. although republicans in congress like to bash the un, when you have a republican president in the white house, they actually quite like working with un peacekeepers. most people think of george bush president butt w they deployed tens of thousands of troops to the conger and them darfur and it was a priority for president bush to get u.s. -- un peacekeepers to get troops into darfur because there was pressure within the u.s. to do something about that slaughter. although there is a split in rhetorical terms between the

democrats on the republicans over the value of the un, in practical terms, both democratic and republican administrations see the advantages of un peacekeeping. host: chantilly, virginia, democratic caller -- caller: thank you for taking my call. each soldier in the u.s. costs $2000. they send in their own people and train their own people and give them the same amount of money rather than send in our troops to pakistan or some other country? they are not even effective where you send them. the un misuses the funds and people they send them to to protect them. name one country where un soldiers have done something good.

watchedout there and like a vacation. they have not done anything for anybody and it's a waste of money. guest: i think i can name and number of countries where the un has done some good. if you look at places like sierra leone, liberia, east timor, haiti, the un has played a central role in restoring order to countries that would otherwise be utter wrecks. i think the un's record is deeply imperfect as we have already discussed but overall, un peacekeeping forces do save lives and bring stability where the alternative is chaos. why don't we give money to the people in the countries affected by violence? during aivil war or civil war, you cannot simply find hundreds or thousands of men of goodwill who would be prepared to restore peace.

people have been fighting and they need to be taken apart. they need to be given time to work out their political differences. --n peacekeeping force is can provide a security force for that process. there are places where un peacekeeping forces have been deployed for too long. troops have been on the ground for an unnecessarily lengthy. of time. might well be, it possible to draw down un forces and put more funds into training local security forces. in some cases, un missions are doing precisely that. they are really focusing on building up local capacity and maintaining security. in the immediate aftermath of the civil war, you cannot just an army that will maintain the peace domestically. host: as part of our weekly

"your money" sequence, we are talking about un peacekeeping forces. the u.s. contributes $2 billion. the eve ofcomes on the opening of the 68 session of the united nations starting tomorrow. through september. the president is expected to go there next week. massachusetts, independent caller -- caller: thank you for accepting my call. the can be done to change un security council arrangement where one negative vote can hold the 193 countries hostage? can they change the number of security council members perhaps 5-2nd say a vote of 6-1 or would allow a religion to be passed?

guest: the security council is difficult to reform. i think there are literally hundreds of proposals for changing the way the security council works. spendats in new york thousands of hours every year discussing this issue. to very little affect. the u.s., china, russia, britain, and france don't really want the security council to change fundamentally. because of the way the council works and is embedded in the un charter, it would take a massive international negotiation process to deliver any formal change to security council procedures. there are a range of proposals for countries to commit to restrain themselves from using the veto in situations like syria where there is massive loss of life, crimes against humanity, and human suffering. france is now pushing the idea

that it will not use its veto in those circumstances in the future and the rest of the security council should also refrain from using that veto. to be honest, it will be difficult to presented -- to persuade russia and china to accept that proposal but it is out there and some western a morees are pushing for responsible approach from the security council to future crises. host: here's a story from reuters in august -- that may sound like a rather technical difference to a lot of viewers but it's very important. in the cold war era, peacekeepers tended to go and simply keep watch over cease- fires. they did not really get involved in the process of building up self-supporting states.

in africa especially, the un is now following much more ambitious mandates that are all about moving from civil war to good governance, the rule of law, to sustainably democratic societies. for example, through building up police forces, building up judiciaries, even working on prison systems. mali, where the un has been peacekeeping since the summer is a good example. the challenge there is not simply to ensure that there is no return to violence. it is actually to try to create a political framework and a governmental framework that makes the tuareg population in the north especially feel they are equal numbers of the mali estate and to do that, you have to work in a wide range of governmental issues. that is the challenge the un faces. host: washington, dc, independent caller. caller: thank you for taking my

call. i am also very skeptical about the role that the un peacekeeping mission is playing and how effective it can be. case of theke the congo where the un peacekeeping and let forcesy crossed the border. what exactly can the un peacekeeping mission do in a special way? there has been perpetual warfare there and the peacekeepers are helpless in front of an invading movement. host: there is a piece in "the guardian."

guest: the congo is one of the the un hasest tasks ever taken on in terms of peacekeeping. the un has now been involved in the congo for i think nearly 14 years. has gone through repeated crises. it faced repeated challenges. it is working with a congolese government that is still very weak and sometimes follows fairly dangerous policies towards its neighbors. of themeantime, many congo neighbors including rwanda are still interfering in internal in fares in the country. in u.s. has a massive task trying to maintain some sort of stability especially in the eastern congo. that has made some progress. momentas a very unhappy

when un peacekeepers were unable to stop rebels seizing the city of goma in the east of the country last november. the un peacekeepers stayed in the city to protect civilians and their presence did save lives but nonetheless, it was humiliating for the un to see the peacekeepers pushed aside by the rebels in that way. what the un has done response is quite bold. it has set up a new brigade within the peacekeeping force. the peacekeeping forces around 20,000 personnel. this brigade is just 3000. those 3000 troops have a special mandate to go and attack the rebels, to neutralize the , through and try force, resulted problem of militias and disorder in the eastern congo. that is a risky mandate. it is one that is not popular

with many un officials. been in action in the eastern congo over the last month and the results remain uncertain. it does show that the un is prepared to learn from its mistakes. they want to take risks to restore order when it faces very vicious challenges. let me have you respond to the latest on syria and the chemical weapons. here is a quotation from the un secretary-general -- what do you make of that statement? guest: i think sadly that statement shows however much good work the un does on the ground, but still right pretty

convoluted press releases. the un innge for serious that in investigating the use of chemical weapons, it is been charged with finding the fact about whether chemical weapons were used and identifying the scale but not placing the blame. careful toeing very avoid getting into a situation where it is seen to take sides. against the syrian government. that may sound inhumane or politically cowardly but it is just pragmatic. eight agencies working inside syria, getting food to syrians, getting some relief to suffering syrians. ban ki-moon has been very writel that he does not off relations with the government in damascus. that would stop the humanitarian program from working. host: there seems to be

conflicting reports about this thatspections report -- the un inspectors would assign blame for the chemical weapons attack but then we see this statement that says -- they use the word the ongoing conflict between the parties. guest: i have not seen the report for it i think the report is being released today. caller some speculation whether whether the inspectors will place blame. ande honest, everyone knows recognizes now that the syrian regime was guilty of using chemical weapons. notsyrian regime has admitted that but has finally owned up to holding chemical weapons for the first time last .eek are

in a sense, the evidence in this report will damage the syrian government whether or not un inspectors say explicitly it was the government was responsible for the attack on 21, august. host: we have learned that the un will put this report on its website and ban ki-moon will be briefing the security council on what the weapons inspector had to say and he will address the media around 1 p.m. eastern time. hi, good morning. apologize for a couple of prior colors. not all americans are like that. the way i see it is that the un is between a hard place and a rock when it comes to these skirmishes and wars.

are of all of these wars they support either minerals, precious gems, or gases or oil or whatever. then you have the military industrial complex of so-called security council countries. .hey all want to sell weapons they want to sell armaments so how do you do that? you start a war. you have the same security council who has the single veto vote power that could not only start the war but make it long- lasting to their benefit. how do you get around that? the crux of the problem is the so-called security council. nations ishe united to be united, they have to vote on what their mission is. majority rules.

i fully agree with your first point that a lot of these conflicts are driven by economic peacekeeperst un struggle to understand let alone control. if you look at the eastern congo, for example, one reason disorder is so persistent there is there is a number of minerals that very many regional actors and multinational corporations want to get their hands on and they very moral in their approach to getting their hands on those minerals. force cannot simply and the system to ensure that the managed properly and that involves politicking with the government and other groups.

-u look at a case like sudan the un operations there have often been complicated by the fact that it is a major supplier of oil to china and other asian countries. not want thees do un to put too much pressure on the un to put too much pressure on the government. theseletely agree that are obstacles to effective it un peacekeeping. sometimes the security council uses the peacekeeping forces and alibis are not taking more serious action. we sell that in syria. , the u.s., china cannot agree what to do. keysthey did was send the keeping force to observe the situation. that created an illusion of action but did not resolve